Alissa Little
by Ego Amorem Deum
Summary: A modern day Alice with characters who have mental disorders.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a first fan fiction for me, and, actually, this started out as a paper I had to write for my AP Psychology class. It's not meant to be much; I'm trying to publish what I can so I can be a Beta Reader as fast as possible but feel free to criticize and critique as much as you'd like. I will take any help I can in order to become a better writer, so all reviews are appreciated, especially the really thorough ones. Oh, and I do not own Alice in Wonderland. **

_Alissa Little looked at the hole in her wall. It wasn't a big hole, not at first. It started as a small rat hole, barely smaller than her own tiny fist, but as she studied it the pastel pink wall paper curled up and browned; the drywall behind it crumbled away to dust; the wooden frames snapped softly backwards. At first Alissa sat wide-eyed in fear, but curiosity overwhelmed her and she stood up to get a better look. She walked over slowly all the while staring into the dark abyss that had been created in her living room. Soft whispers blew across her face and the distant pounding in the back of her mind beat along with her heart. She stepped into the hole._

_"ALISS!" The pounding grew frantic, "Aliss let me in, please." Back at the apartment, Loraly, or Lori, Little stood at the apartment door. Hastily, she searched for her keys in her purse, alternating searching with knocking on the gray door. "Damn keys. ALISS!" Lori called, angry this time. Lori dropped to her knees and yanked up the mat that said 'Welcome.' Seeing the prize, she snatched up the spare key and nearly broke it off in the door just trying to get in. The door swung open and Lori barged in._

_"Aliss, I told you to lock the chain when I left. Why can't you just-"_

"And that's when you saw a hole, Miss Little?" The inspector studied the eldest Little carefully. Lori nodded.

"Yes, I had slung the spare key onto the kitchen table and went into the living room. There was this hole, like someone had broken the drywall all away. I just-how? How can a girl of her state of mind do that? She can't even tie her own shoes, there is no way she can tear a hole in the wall!" Lori gave the inspector a desperate look. "She is mentally unfit to be outside of that apartment without me, Inspector."

"I'm sorry Miss Little, but there really isn't much we can do-"

"Like hell! You are not weaseling out of this," Lori slammed her fist on the table, "have you not read the papers? No, maybe you wouldn't know," Lori struggled to get a paper out of her purse, "it probably wasn't even your squad out on call when it happened." Lori spread the front page out in front of the Inspector. The front page said: THREE BRUTALLY MURDERED IN DISTURBING PROXIMITY OF SUNNY SIDE APARTMENTS.

"Those apartments, that's where I live. That 'path', the killer randomly murdered three people each within a half mile of each other and all were people I knew. Their bodies were all found, each closer to the apartments than the last," Her voice raised with each word she spoke until it was shrill and hysterical. The inspector sat back and looked at he carefully. She was small framed but tall. She was beautiful in the way a wilting flower was beautiful. The edges of herself seemed curled and faded: her hair was tinged with gray, her clothes hung slightly limp from her body but her heart shaped face was young and her eyes clear and fierce. A determined fire burned in her which let the Inspector know she wouldn't be leaving until she had her sister back.

"Miss Little, what's your point?" Inspector asked.

"Those victims were little girls, Inspector."

X_X_X

Alissa had been falling slowly down the hole when a large white rabbit had come racing past her. Curious, she tried to fall faster. She waved her arms around and kicked her legs but all she succeeded in doing was make her paisley skirt fly up. Aliss pushed her skirt down and continued her slow descent, the rabbit a distant memory now. Eventually, gravity regained its authority and Aliss came tumbling down amidst an empty room. On the far wall stood a long table and seated at the table were two men. One lay slumped over the bar snoring lightly and the other fidgeted mindlessly with his sleeve hem. Aliss looked in wonder at the man standing behind the table for he was doing a curious thing. Before him, on the table, were several glasses of varying sizes. Rapidly, he mixed several drinks; with grace and a flick of the wrist he had caught each cup stacked upon the other and hastily poured out the cascading contents into a single bowl on the bar. Each liquid that was pouring out started to glow a different color and mixed into a neon rainbow in the bowl. Aliss watched, enraptured, and carefully approached the bar.

The man smiled down at her. His appearance was curious as well for his hair had an red-orange tinge at the roots and his eyes were as wild as his hair.

"Well hello, how are you? Aren't you young for a tea party like this? Perhaps I can entertain you with a trick," the man spoke rapidly. "It's a basic simple trick, if tricks can be simple. All you do is simply..." The man threw his stack of glasses in the air and whipped out a towel. He fanned it out in front of the glasses as they fell behind it; the man dropped the towel to reveal in his hand unopened bottle labeled 'DRINK ME.' The red liquid inside sloshed around sluggishly and in a flash he set the bottle down on the table and grabbed both ends tightly. He pulled from the one bottle, several bottles, and spread them out as one would spread out a deck of cards and quickly he tapped bottle after bottle with a glass and each froze where it stood. Again, he took his rag and waved it in front of the bottles. They had disappeared and in their place was the small bowl from before. The man blew gently over the surface and smoke rose encircling Aliss' head.

Aliss couldn't see but she heard the swishing of many rags and looked about her. Shadows moved around bouncing off the thick smoke; Aliss saw chickens made from an assortment of stained bar rags come marching towards her out of the haze. As they continued moving closer, she saw that they weren't chickens but Dodos. Each rag grew firmer and feathers sprouted out; they each had an elongated comical beak and wings that were a joke in themselves to be called wings. 'Curious, my picture book at home doesn't portray these birds with such silly beaks. I'm sure they must be a different species. Oh how I wish I could remember!" Aliss shrieked as they ran past her. 'Where are you going Dodos?'

"Caucus race! We are late for the Caucus Race!" Their bodies disappeared and the bar-man appeared beside Aliss with a suitcase in his hand.

"Make's one wonder-what is a Caucus Race? Any-who, best be going. Mr. Harre and Mr. Moushce are waiting for me. Adieu!"

'Wait! I am lost, which direction am I to go!" Aliss cried as she watched the man reach for his top hat and head to the door.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." And he was gone.

Aliss looked back to the bar and saw only a single bottle labeled 'DRINK ME' same as before. She knew she should not drink anything that was strange or labeled poison, but upon further inspection she found the bottle contained no other label than the 'DRINK ME' scribbled across the front. If it wasn't labeled poison then it couldn't be anymore harmful than any other drink. She took a small sip and then another. She felt no change until she looked about her. Everything had grown larger! But along with the increased size of the room, so had the voices increased in volume. They screamed at her, a white fire blazing in her mind. She clapped her hands to her ears and fell to the floor. Aliss screwed her eyes shut and screamed back at the voices but they did not listen to her pleas for silence. Instead their clamor raised to a shrill crescendo.

X_X_X

He breathed heavily. He had been on the trail but the waif's sister had interrupted his focus and he had been forced to flee. Now he stood on the roof of a building next to the Sunny Side Apartments, panting. His run had been hard; he wasn't used to scaling a building so fast but it was abandoned and he needed an easy escape, a first opportunity sort of thing. Not too far from his victims, of course. She would be his last in this area and then he would move on to others just awaiting his gentle, lethal touch.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: The following contains excerpts from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There," (1872) of which I lay no claim to, for it is not a writing of my own. But thank goodness it's public domain, right? XD  
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X_X_X

"As you may have realized, Miss Little, I have many accomplishments. This case shouldn't be a hassle for me at all." Lori gave the Inspector a skeptical look. Ever since she had joined him on his search for Aliss he had done nothing but refer to himself and his accomplishments. At first she thought he had been trying to impress her, but even his air said narcissism.

He had little room for others in his mind and she sighed at having been stuck with his company, but regardless, he was captain and he was good at his job. He was the youngest sergeant in the city's history, which no doubt contributed to his big head.

"Yeah, yeah, great for you but let's focus on the job ahead, Inspector." Lori felt her chest tighten painfully. Another episode, oh gosh. Not here, not now! The panic of having an episode increased the pain she felt in her chest and she bent over, forehead pressed to the warm dashboard.

"You, uh, okay?"

"Shut up...and drive." Lori gritted through her teeth. Deciding it best not to mess with her, Inspector turned on the cool air and drove onward toward the apartments.

X_X_X

Aliss was struggling to her feet when she tripped over a small box on the ground that hadn't been completely tucked away under a counter. It was about the size of a shoe box and had the words 'Open Me' printed across the top in a hasty script. With care, Aliss bent down over the box and pressed the latch inward so the lid popped open, revealing small, round cakes about the side of a dime. They were dark brown with bright yellow letters saying "EAT ME." Desperate, Aliss snatched up a handful of the cakes and shoved them into her mouth. She sat down, chewing for a few moments. The taste wasn't bad, it was a soft chocolatey taste, kind of chalky. She continued to eat them but at a slower pace and then-

A sharp pain made her race in search of a restroom so she could spit out the small treats. Suddenly, she shot up towards the ceiling. Her legs were growing longer and her arms like poles. Although the voices had died down to a quiet static, she had grown too large for the room. She stumbled toward the back looking for the door that said Restroom. Upon finding it, she jerked open the door and tried to fit her body through but it just wouldn't work. She was just too big. Aliss began to cry. Giant tears spilled down her cheeks as she struggled to fit through. She sat back and bawled until her eyes were red and sore; frantically she wiped the remains of the 'Eat Me' cakes off her tongue. Eventually she stopped her actions long enough to gulp air in, calming herself down. Out of the corner of her eye she spied something red. The bottle from earlier lay on its side on the floor. It must have fallen in her panic. Aliss crawled over to the bottle and saw that a small bit of the red liquid was left in the bottle.

'Maybe there will be just enough to shrink me back down to my normal size.' Aliss took the last sip and felt herself shrink. She rushed into the bathroom and found it wasn't a bathroom at all but a small cliff with a grassy green bottom. Sadly for Aliss, she hadn't caught herself in time as she rushed through and fell down, off the edge of the cliff.

But on a happy note she was caught in the arms of a strong tall man. His appearance was less than clean but he smiled down at her gaily.

"M'names Griff. Yours?" His comment was cheery enough, but his voice was slurred, though not from alcohol because the scent of alcohol was not on his breath. He smiled down at her and sat her down among swaying and giggling flowers.

"Aliss. I'm seven and a quarter, yourself?" Griff puffed out his chest proudly and stated he was the same age. The man had a great fuzzy white beard and his dark eyes twinkled with a child-like innocence.

"But you're big. You're an adult, mister." Griff's face clouded and he sat down in a huff.

"Am not. I'm seven anna' quarter too." He turned dark from frustration and pouted pulling at the grass. The flowers squealed their nonsense as his hands strayed too close to their stems and Aliss grew upset as well.

"None of that pouting now. Your just a big seven year old. If you keep pulling at the grass, the flowers will be most upset. Let's go find a better place to wander." Aliss held out her hand to Griff and he smiled and took it.

"Ima take you to mama," the Man-Child beamed.

X_X_X

Aliss and Griff strode off toward a castle in the grass. It was a tall, magnificent castle with wooden chips surrounding the front gate. Inside a scuffling noise could be heard. A woman's shrill voice was raising all the hairs on Aliss' neck.

"Mama! I home now! I brought a friend!" Griff lumbered through the gates of the castle and Aliss followed after him. Inside, there was a woman of about sixty or so and she was dressed head to toe in red. On her vest were several decks of cards stuck onto it with small pins. 'How does she not get stuck with one?' Aliss wondered to herself for by several, she really meant covered entirely with cards. What was even more curious was the lady was chasing the Dodos she had seen the man with the hat create. They were fully formed Dodo's now, and she was chasing them around screaming at the top of her lungs, "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" Aliss looked up at Griff clearly alarmed but he beamed at the little girl.

"That's my mama." The woman reached for a small yellow Burger King crown and jammed it onto her head.

"They have fouled my most beloved snacks and I shall have their heads for it! You!" The woman pointed to Aliss, "grab that sword and follow me!" Aliss looked about her but found only a pink Flamingo, not a sword. She grabbed it anyway and set about after the Dodos. Aliss swung madly at them and the Queen sat back shouting fouls and strikes and goals until Aliss was thoroughly confused and was unsure of who had won, the Dodos, her, or the Flamingo.

"Wond'rous game of Frabjoyousness. 'Tis time for a story, Griff! Tell her of the Jaborwocky," 'Mama' ordered, sitting primly down upon a throne of cardboard. Griff proudly puffed out his chest and began in a strong voice:

**Jabberwocky**

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  
>Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;<br>All mimsy were the borogoves,  
>And the mome raths outgrabe.<p>

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!  
>The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!<br>Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
>The frumious Bandersnatch!"<p>

He took his vorpal sword in hand:  
>Long time the manxome foe he sought—<br>So rested he by the Tumtum tree,  
>And stood awhile in thought.<p>

And as in uffish thought he stood,  
>The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,-<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

X_X_X

The man on the roof heard the screams and heavy thumps below. Cautiously, he lurked over the edge of the roof in time to see Aliss stumble down from an abandoned construction ledge. She tumbled over the edge, long, soft curls whipping about her face. The drop was softened by a large, homeless black man catching her in his arms. Her delicate face crinkled at his smell but the man on the roof watched as the big man sat her down gently among the left over plastic Easter grass that had been used in a past Mardi-Gras party. The pair trudged off toward Madison Park oblivious to the man on the roof watching their every move. The man seethed with anger. His perfect prey had been within his reach and she had slipped right past his searching fingers. The man angrily stalked toward the pigeon pen he kept, plans starting to formulate with violent speed inside his head.

X_X_X

"Looks like whoever has been killing those girls has been on watch for a very long time." The Inspector walked away from a bloody pile of pigeons laying in the corner of a pen. On the roof was a hammock, several canteens and wrappers of food. A young police officer followed nervously behind the Inspector.

"I think he might have been at this for a while, sir."

"Anyone could deduce that, Jenkins, in fact I believe that's what I just said., but only an officer of my experience could gather that the man is heading in the direction of Madison Park."

"W-what made you realize that, Inspector?" The Inspector calmly pointed to the giant map on a make-shift table with a red slash right across Madison park. The Inspector kicked a stray dead pigeon away from his newly polished shoes, "thank God that woman didn't come up here with us. She would have panic attacked herself into a coma. Lets go Jenkins." The Inspector turned and walked away from the map. The younger officer looked at the map. Criss-crossing over the map were several slashes. Most were haphazardly placed but towards the Sunny Side Apartments the slashes started to form a grisly cluster.

X_X_X

Aliss, the 'Queen', the Dodo's and Flamingo all rose and clapped for Griff. So jubilant was he that he launched right into another recital:

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:-

"That's enough, Griff! You did wonderful. Now it is time for me to call mama. Shoo shoo!" The 'Queen' grabbed for a small plastic phone with a snapped plastic cord and began to punch in numbers. Griff grabbed Aliss's hand and lead her out of the castle but before they were out of ear shot Aliss heard clearly: "Mama they found a home for me, and a new friend. Yes, mama." The voice sounded very lonely and very small. "Yes, mama I'll be good. I love you too mama. See you soon."

X_X_X

"Aliss, will Aliss be my friend? Forever?" Aliss looked up at her big companion. His scraggly poof of hair and big innocent eyes made him look smaller than he really was. Aliss smiled warmly up at him and nodded her head.

"Forever."

A scream and then a shot. Griff and Aliss turned back to look at the castle.

"MAMA!" Griff roared. He pushed Aliss behind a tree and charged back to the castle.

X_X_X

The man wiped blood from his face and snuck out behind the castle. Lucky for him it was almost dark, and no one really visited the park in the middle of February. He quietly crept along the edge of near by hedges until he had a position directly behind Aliss. In one swift move he had her by her hair, hand firmly on her mouth. Aliss kicked and screamed and wriggled until the man's grasp on her had loosened somewhat. She took this opportunity to do what her sister had taught her and bit down hard on his hand. The man bellowed in pain and Aliss screamed for all her seven-and-one-quarter-year-old-lungs were worth.

X_X_X

"That's my sister! I know it!" Loraly wrenched her seat belt off and sprinted across the park parking lot and onto the grass.

"Miss Little, get back here! I will not have you jeopardizing my duties!" A nearby police officer spun the Inspector around and decked him squarely in the eye. Someone had finally had enough.

"When that man started killing YOU no longer mattered. Get some therapy for your narcissism, you worthless sergeant." The Inspector gaped at the older man who had punched him. He swallowed the lump rising in his throat. No one had ever talked to him that way before.

"A defenseless citizen is going out there to do YOUR job and you care more about your quota and promotion than you do for the life of a civilian." The Inspector wilted under the harsh tone of the fellow officer. Buckling down he stared the man in the eye then turned to run after Loraly.

X_X_X

Two seconds and the Inspector had caught up with Loraly. She stood frozen as she watched a giant black man with the poofy hair stand over the body of a limp and broken man. Aliss stood behind the black man crying, clinging to his sleeve.

"Is Griff okay? Is Griff okay?" Aliss sobbed and latched on tighter to the man's coat-sleeve. The Inspector reached for his gun but Loraly stopped him.

"No, he saved Alice. That man had her by her hair and was," Loraly choked on her words. "He came out of no where from that play-castle and grabbed the man by his neck and shook him," she sobbed, "just shook him like a doll." Then the inspector did a very out of habit thing and pulled Loraly close. Loraly bawled.

X_X_X

A few months later, David was holding Lori's hand. "How is she doing?" Loraly looked outside to see Griff and Aliss playing in the green grassy fields of their new home.

"She's better. Her medicine is working; it's a new prescription, helps to keep the symptoms under control." Lori looked out over the fields. "She's much safer here than in that big city. She's recovering but who knows what the future will bring. Schizophrenia is a serious condition and rare in someone so young." David tightened his hold on Lori's hand gently.

"And how are the panic attacks?" Lori smiled. She looked better than she had when David first met her. Her wilted flower look had been traded in for one of vibrancy.

"Well inspector, why don't you deduce that for me?" She teased. David sighed comically.

"Well, if you insist," he swooned back and pretended to have been hit by the all knowing force.

"Since your sister has gotten better so have your anxiety episodes," he cooed in an over dramatic voice. "And when your up to par so am I. Not so narcissistic am I?" Loraly chuckled and shook her head.

"No love, no you're not."

"Do you think we've found our wonderland?" David asked, smiling down at Lori. _Lori pondered this. So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, _

"Yes, I do."


End file.
